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Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#51
post #46
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> anonymity is only possible with cryptocurrencies and cash-by-mail. The easiest one (anonymity wise) is Monero and the most popular one is Bitcoin. Can we just stop with the "Bitcoin is anonymous" bullshit here? Anybody here is smart enough to know better, so it just earmarks you as another fucking crypto-shill.

Bitcoin is anonymous (ie your key is not linked to your identity) but not private (all your transactions can be seen)

It's somewhere between (not including) anonymous and multi-pseudonymous.

Each address is a random pseudonym. A wallet is a collection of pseudonyms but it's secret that they belong together. Except network analysis can infer that some of them do. Pseudonyms are persistent, can't "change them", only transfer coins out of the pseudonym to a different one, i.e. log a transaction.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#52
post #44
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> anonymity is only possible with cryptocurrencies and cash-by-mail. The easiest one (anonymity wise) is Monero and the most popular one is Bitcoin. Can we just stop with the "Bitcoin is anonymous" bullshit here? Anybody here is smart enough to know better, so it just earmarks you as another fucking crypto-shill.

Bitcoin is anonymous in the sense that you don't necessarily need to link your wallet to your real name, it's just not the best choice for privacy since transaction details are public. Besides, mixing services exist.

> Besides, mixing services exist.

And don't work. They were revealed to be useless way back when the Magic The Gathering Online Exchange crypto grifters pulled the first high profile scam, and they got hounded through all the "mixers" anyway. Chainalysis has been able to see straight through "crypto mixers" for almost a decade. (Yeah, there are probably way that right now you can't track bitcoin through other crypto currencies and back into bitcoin, maybe... But we are now a long long way from "good advice to an old guy who want to sell macOS utilities anonymously")

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#53
post #44
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> anonymity is only possible with cryptocurrencies and cash-by-mail. The easiest one (anonymity wise) is Monero and the most popular one is Bitcoin. Can we just stop with the "Bitcoin is anonymous" bullshit here? Anybody here is smart enough to know better, so it just earmarks you as another fucking crypto-shill.

Bitcoin is anonymous in the sense that you don't necessarily need to link your wallet to your real name, it's just not the best choice for privacy since transaction details are public. Besides, mixing services exist.

If HN was anonymous, then we couldn't see that two posts were made by the same account or not. But HN has pseudonyms with (unlimited?) pseudonyms per person, and Bitcoin is a bit like that, except that it's commonplace to have many pseudonyms (wallet).

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#54
It is, yes. You can simply self-sign and then tell users how to bypass the security warning, which is what you're already doing so what's the problem?

It's a common misconception that macOS forces all software to be signed by Apple. It doesn't. ARM Macs require all software to be signed, but crucially, any signature is OK at the kernel level. It's only at the first-run-from-finder level that Gatekeeper gets involved. This has been true from the start and I've seen over the years scattered comments from Apple developers that they view the Mac as a true general purpose computing device, and thus have no plans to change this. The ramped up signing requirements on ARM are more to do with simplifying the core OS by ensuring all code has an identity than stopping non-Apple approved software.

If you think users should trust you despite your anonymity then you can simply point them to Apple's official documentation on how to work around Gatekeeper:

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/open-a-mac-app-from...

The process is straightforward if you know about it:

1. Download a self-signed or unsigned app.

2. Locate it in the finder.

3. Hold down the control key and right click it, then choose open.

4. Click open when the security alert appears.

Most people think you have to use the command line to open non-signed apps on macOS but it's not actually the case.

To self-sign an application you can generate certs using the Certificate Assistant in the Keychain Access app, or use OpenSSL from the command line. Then sign as normal. The fact that the cert doesn't come from Apple means Gatekeeper will ignore it, but, allows the app to run on ARM and ensures the OS has a stable identity it can use for assigning permissions across upgrades.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#55
As someone who grew up when they printed your address when your photo and name appeared in the paper, and when everyone had their name, telephone, and address in the telephone book -- this seems bizarre. Are you never planning to appear at a trade show and promote your product? Hiding who you are seems cowardly, or maybe you have nefarious motives with your program. Transparency and honesty are the best policies in business and personally.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#56
post #7

There are three levels of anonymity: anonymity to the general public, to Apple, and to a state-level actor. Anonymity to the general public is very easy, incorporate a company behind some of the shell corporation mumbo jumbo that any corporate lawyer can prep for you, it will cost $ but it will be easy. Anonymity from Apple could probably be pulled off by incorporating in a country with fairly weak transparency and h…

Legitimate question: what benefits are there to be anonymous to the general public? Wouldn’t most people be happy to take credit for their code?

A friend of mine programs free / open source software and one of his libraries was used in a crypto scam project.

Suddenly he got accusations and threats from a person from a completely different country, because that person thought he was the brain behind the crypto scam where they lost some money. He had to take it to the police to get that person stop threatening and harass him.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#57
post #7

There are three levels of anonymity: anonymity to the general public, to Apple, and to a state-level actor. Anonymity to the general public is very easy, incorporate a company behind some of the shell corporation mumbo jumbo that any corporate lawyer can prep for you, it will cost $ but it will be easy. Anonymity from Apple could probably be pulled off by incorporating in a country with fairly weak transparency and h…

Legitimate question: what benefits are there to be anonymous to the general public? Wouldn’t most people be happy to take credit for their code?

People are nuts. I ran a small, simple MUD (a text-based MORPG). Nothing fancy, nothing overly popular, a nice little niche group of people. Seemingly. I ran it anonymously, but there will always be somebody you know who slips something about you that will break that anonymity. The day that happened to me, a couple of disgruntled players found my Facebook account and sent messages to me and my immediate family threatening to kill us in various colorful ways.

My information is pretty locked down, but my family was less so. They started to get threatening phone calls. Very unpleasant stuff.

Anyway, that's when I learned that credit isn't worth the hassle of harassment.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#58

As someone who grew up when they printed your address when your photo and name appeared in the paper, and when everyone had their name, telephone, and address in the telephone book -- this seems bizarre. Are you never planning to appear at a trade show and promote your product? Hiding who you are seems cowardly, or maybe you have nefarious motives with your program. Transparency and honesty are the best policies in b…

> Hiding who you are seems cowardly, or maybe you have nefarious motives with your program. Transparency and honesty are the best policies in business and personally.

I don't understand your absolutist viewpoint here. Can you really not imagine a non-nefarious situation in which someone might not want to associate themself publicly with their work?

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#59

If you prefer to use a pseudonym, why not just register an LLC? There are services out there that will register your company and be your registered agent in states that do not require your name ever made public (Wyoming for example). These services also provide a mailbox that would work for anything you need. You can then get a business checking account (Mercury works well) with your newly registered business. You ca…

> If you prefer to use a pseudonym, why not just register an LLC? There are services out there that will register your company and be your registered agent in states that do not require your name ever made public (Wyoming for example).

Congress passed a bill with rider a that now makes the creation of anonymous LLCs difficult.

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/467017-house-passes-bill-...

https://maloney.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/congress-...

https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2021/02/04/the-end-of-the-an...

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#60

As someone who grew up when they printed your address when your photo and name appeared in the paper, and when everyone had their name, telephone, and address in the telephone book -- this seems bizarre. Are you never planning to appear at a trade show and promote your product? Hiding who you are seems cowardly, or maybe you have nefarious motives with your program. Transparency and honesty are the best policies in b…

Wow. Just wow. Since when someone choosing to be anonymous equals “cowardly” or “nefarious”?
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